record, then, working through the smoky vapor of their breath in the sub-zero chopper cabin, he and Wa set about the long task of mapping the tunnels beneath the streets.
An hour passed and finally the task was done.
"OK, J.T.," he finally called out. "Let's get off this dime."
72
Toomey took the chopper off hover and started moving eastward again.
Hunter was going over some post-mapping data when Wa called his attention to another image which had appeared on the screen.
"What the hell is that?" Wa asked, pointing to a row of perfect rectangular shapes that appeared just below the surface in a relatively abandoned part of the city.
"Very strange," Hunter said, just as another row of the shapes came into view.
"Can you hold it up a little, J.T.?" Hunter called out, feeling the copter slow down almost immediately.
"What the hell you got?" Toomey yelled back to them.
Hunter wasn't sure. The two long rows of rectangles were so exact and thin, he couldn't believe they were part of the catacombs.
"They're boxes of some kind," Wa said. "Big boxes ..."
"Maybe railroad boxcars?" Hunter wondered aloud. "The size would match . . ."
"Yeah, same approximate shape," Wa said, trying to focus the image. "But boxcars buried under the ground?"
"Maybe it's an underground garage, or an old railroad service shop . . ."
Toomey yelled back.
"That's probably it," Hunter said. "But they're not empty-I'm getting an infrared reading from them. Not strong, but warm enough to indicate they're loaded, with something. There's probably more of them than we're picking up here."
"War material, maybe?" Wa asked.
"Ammo? Weapons?" Toomey pitched in.
73
Hunter did some quick calculations then punched a swarm of numbers into the imager's computer. The result was an overall view of the city with a thin green line indicating the nearest catacomb tributary.
"We have a tunnel that swings within fifteen feet of that area," Hunter said, once again committing the image to the computer's memory banks and then his own. "If we can, we'll get in there tomorrow night, see what the hell's going on. If that's a weapons supply dump, then it means the Circle has about twice as much firepower as we thought."
74
CHAPTER 12
Within five minutes, Yaz, Elvis and Ace were five blocks from the area where they had detonated the two radio-controlled bombs.
All three knew they had accomplished their mission-and then some. They had created two separate firestorms of carnage, and they knew the Circle body count would be high.
"There's a thin line between an urban guerrilla and an out and out terrorist,"
Ace said.
Like a terrorist bombing, the two explosions had also served the psychological purpose: air raid sirens were going off all over the city, adding to the confusion and causing many sections to be blacked out.
"When they find out those bombs were planted," Elvis said, through the sputtering fake blood, "the guys in charge of this burg will really get nervous . . ."
They made their way through the streets away from the downtown area and toward the river, Elvis holding a wet towel given to him by the cafe's owner. The water and fake blood mixed to give his head and throat a particularly realistic, major-sucking-wound look. On two occasions, Circle soldiers stopped to question them, but each time, Ace and Yaz simply shouted down their inquiries by demanding directions to the nearest hospital.
They reached the water's edge within an hour. Their second target was a major pier facility called the Mound City Boat Docks which was just north of two of the reconstructed bridge spans.
Using the darkness as cover, they stole along the river bank until they reached the southern end of the dockworks. There were no Circle guards in evidence. Ace quickly attached the first bomb to the underside of a pier which supported an oil holding tank, then the three scrambled away behind a river jetty.
"Blow it whenever you're ready," Elvis told Ace.
But just as the man was about
An hour passed and finally the task was done.
"OK, J.T.," he finally called out. "Let's get off this dime."
72
Toomey took the chopper off hover and started moving eastward again.
Hunter was going over some post-mapping data when Wa called his attention to another image which had appeared on the screen.
"What the hell is that?" Wa asked, pointing to a row of perfect rectangular shapes that appeared just below the surface in a relatively abandoned part of the city.
"Very strange," Hunter said, just as another row of the shapes came into view.
"Can you hold it up a little, J.T.?" Hunter called out, feeling the copter slow down almost immediately.
"What the hell you got?" Toomey yelled back to them.
Hunter wasn't sure. The two long rows of rectangles were so exact and thin, he couldn't believe they were part of the catacombs.
"They're boxes of some kind," Wa said. "Big boxes ..."
"Maybe railroad boxcars?" Hunter wondered aloud. "The size would match . . ."
"Yeah, same approximate shape," Wa said, trying to focus the image. "But boxcars buried under the ground?"
"Maybe it's an underground garage, or an old railroad service shop . . ."
Toomey yelled back.
"That's probably it," Hunter said. "But they're not empty-I'm getting an infrared reading from them. Not strong, but warm enough to indicate they're loaded, with something. There's probably more of them than we're picking up here."
"War material, maybe?" Wa asked.
"Ammo? Weapons?" Toomey pitched in.
73
Hunter did some quick calculations then punched a swarm of numbers into the imager's computer. The result was an overall view of the city with a thin green line indicating the nearest catacomb tributary.
"We have a tunnel that swings within fifteen feet of that area," Hunter said, once again committing the image to the computer's memory banks and then his own. "If we can, we'll get in there tomorrow night, see what the hell's going on. If that's a weapons supply dump, then it means the Circle has about twice as much firepower as we thought."
74
CHAPTER 12
Within five minutes, Yaz, Elvis and Ace were five blocks from the area where they had detonated the two radio-controlled bombs.
All three knew they had accomplished their mission-and then some. They had created two separate firestorms of carnage, and they knew the Circle body count would be high.
"There's a thin line between an urban guerrilla and an out and out terrorist,"
Ace said.
Like a terrorist bombing, the two explosions had also served the psychological purpose: air raid sirens were going off all over the city, adding to the confusion and causing many sections to be blacked out.
"When they find out those bombs were planted," Elvis said, through the sputtering fake blood, "the guys in charge of this burg will really get nervous . . ."
They made their way through the streets away from the downtown area and toward the river, Elvis holding a wet towel given to him by the cafe's owner. The water and fake blood mixed to give his head and throat a particularly realistic, major-sucking-wound look. On two occasions, Circle soldiers stopped to question them, but each time, Ace and Yaz simply shouted down their inquiries by demanding directions to the nearest hospital.
They reached the water's edge within an hour. Their second target was a major pier facility called the Mound City Boat Docks which was just north of two of the reconstructed bridge spans.
Using the darkness as cover, they stole along the river bank until they reached the southern end of the dockworks. There were no Circle guards in evidence. Ace quickly attached the first bomb to the underside of a pier which supported an oil holding tank, then the three scrambled away behind a river jetty.
"Blow it whenever you're ready," Elvis told Ace.
But just as the man was about
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